Sweet Sixteen

Me and my friends checking out my new car!

I lost one of my oldest and dearest members of my family this week - my first car! On June 19, 1998, my sixteenth birthday, I opened a box with car keys in it and ran out the front door of my house to see a 1996 Honda Civic with 16 balloons tied to it! I was SO excited! I told my mom that she had given me a TV birthday - where the kid gets exactly what they wanted and had no idea they were getting it!  I was totally shocked. She had told me I could have a set of keys to her car and she would share it with me! Which was a nice gesture - but not the same as getting your own car when you are 16!

One of my senior pictures taken with my car - 2000
(I'm loving my clothes - what a dork!)

My friends and I piled in it and we had no idea where to go! We finally could go anywhere but had no where to go! We decided on going to get sno-cones! I remember the first time I had to prepay for gas. I went in and told the guy I wanted $20.00 on pump 1 - he said "Are you driving that Honda?", I proudly answered "Yes I am!". He said "I'll hold your money because there is no way that thing will hold $20.00 in gas!" Embarrassingly enough - he was right. It only held about $12.00 worth. A lesson learned!

The picture of me and my car from my senior annual!
Check out those clear tail lights!

In this picture I was a senior in high school about to start college. Living at home with my mom, stepdad, and little brother. I had a boyfriend Nathan and an after school job at Gibbons Law Office.

Re-enacting my Senior picture - 10 years later!

In this picture, 10 years later, I have moved 4 times and graduated college. I am now a full time employee of Gibbons Law Office and have been married to Nathan for 5 years and we have an amazing 9 month old son!
Some things changed - that car stayed the same. I went from a kid to an adult with that car.

Over the last 13 years that car and I have been through alot! Nathan and I had our first kiss standing against that car and Nathan gave me my promise ring in that car - after he dropped it in the emergency break hole and we dug it out that is! Nathan blindfolded me and took me to propose to me in that car. We drove to our wedding in that car. We took that car on countless vacations. I hit my first deer in that car and the insurance company wanted to total it and I begged them not to because I couldn't imagine driving anything else! I raced that car at Centerville just to say I had - it is no racecar! I once traded out body work for that car in exchange for me writing a book report for Nathan's brother - he got an A, my body work got a C! Another lesson learned!

3 years ago I bought a Tahoe. Since then my old car - which of course I swore I would still drive after I got my Tahoe, has basically just been neglected. Nathan drove it some and I drove it a few times when the Tahoe was being worked on. But other than that, it just sat. I felt very bad seeing it just sitting there never getting driven. Nathan came in one day and told me a mouse had been in the Honda! I told him that was it - we had to sell it! It deserved way better than that! So we (by we, I mean Nathan) cleaned it out and got it ready to sell. Nathan mentioned it to a friend of his and the next thing I knew I was signing the title over! It was very fast - but that is probably for the best. I had to rip that band-aid off and move on. Now I have money to put towards a down payment on a new car and we have more space, and most importantly my car is being driven daily.

The day I sold it - she was a GREAT car!

I will miss that car - but it gave me great memories! I hope it has a great new life with it's new owner!